By Uzor Odigbo
As the opening ceremony and match hostilities of the FIFA World Cup begin in Russia on Thursday, most football analysts have tagged the Super Eagles of Nigeria as the underdog among 32 teams in Russia.
Perhaps, they are right going by FIFA ranking, players quality, number of friendly games won and lost.
Strikingly, Eagles have welcomed the underdog toga and had assured to make advantage of it to surprise the world in Russia.
Ranked 22 among the 32 teams presently in Russia, Super Eagles of Nigeria appear ready for a face-off at the FIFA World Cup at different centres.
Certainly, the Super Eagles begin the hostilities against the highly and star-studded Croatia on Saturday.
Having stated earlier that his team was not ready for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Super Eagles Coach, Gernot Rohr, assured that Nigeria would make it on time for their opening Group D clash against Croatia.
The Super Eagles head into the global showpiece in an uninspiring fashion, with the record of their final three friendlies reading two losses and a draw.
But the German tactician hinged his hope on the ability of his team “to rise to the occasion together,” and is confident of the three-time African champions handing Zlatko Dalic’s men a tough test at the Kaliningrad Arena on Saturday.
“We will take it one match at a time. I love this group because we know how to rise to the occasion together. Nigeria will be ready for Croatia,” he said.
Fittingly, Nigeria is the lowest ranked team in Group D, made up of Argentina [fifth], Saturday opposition Croatia [20th] and Iceland [22].
Losses to England and Czech Republic culminated in the Super Eagles heading to the global tourney as the worst-placed African side [48] in Fifa ranking.
Rohr, reiterating his team’s captain John Obi Mikel’s stance, is ‘okay’ with his side’s ‘underdog’ label.
“We are okay with the garb of the underdog. But the defeats have done something for us; we have our heads firmly on our shoulders and we are focused.
“Together, we have reviewed the matches and learnt so many lessons. We will approach the World Cup matches differently,” Rohr said.
Since Rohr was appointed Super Eagles manager, some players have formed the fulcrum of the national team and remained its backbone, which accounted for Nigeria’s easy qualification.
However, heading to the World Cup which is due to kick-off within hours there are some players who have shown through the friendlies, that Super Eagles, as presently constituted, will ride on their crest to successfully prosecute the Mundial.
These players would certainly constitute the spine of the team at the World Cup.
The Wing- back position in the current team seems suspect. Recall that when Ben Iroha came on board during the glory days of Super Eagles, Nigerians forgot Yisa Sofoluwe. Then came Celestine Babayaro and Iroha was confined to the past. After Babayaro, Ifeanyi Udeze was discovered and the hole was plugged while the former was forgotten. After Udeze came Taiye Taiwo. Elderson Echiejile took that position from Taiwo and since then, the area had leaked in his absence.
In the matches against both England and Czech Republic, Rohr deployed Brian Idowu to that position and he, again, failed to convince on why Echiejile should be confined to oblivion, allowing the English and Czechs teams to run riot. His constant overlapping did not help the team. On this basis, Echiejile should still be the player to look up to when hostilities commence on Saturday.
Also on Nigeria’s chances, former Eagles Coach Johaness Bonfrere in his analysis noted that Eagles were not playing as a team, which if not corrected could hunt the team.
“From what I have seen of the team in some friendlies played before now, Eagles are not playing as a team. Too much individuality play in the team. The players have speed and tactically sound but if you are not playing as a unit, getting the desired result will be difficult. And secondly, they appear as if they are not playing to instruction or tactics from the handlers of the team. It is like having a problem in your house and you have the tools to solving the problem but if you don’t know the right tool to use, all the bunch of tools you have may appear useless. That is the problem I see with the current Super Eagles.
“Super Eagles will play their first game against Croatia. Now is the time to let the players know the opposition they are going to face and the quality in each of the players of the Croatian team. From the losses in the friendlies, the coaches should be able to tell each player what the problem was in the areas they covered and amendments made. Let me tell, from what I have seen of Nigerian players, they are all faster than nearly all the players from Europe coming to this World Cup. They have more technique than most other players. However, I want to say that I really don’t know most of the current players so it will be difficult for me to hazard a guess. If they play as a team, they can go far beyond the second Round that has become Nigeria’s benchmark. In Europe, when a player has the ball, he has five players opening up for him to choose where to send the ball but in the present Nigerian situation from the friendlies that I have seen, when a Super Eagles player has the ball, he wants to do things of five people all alone and there is no support around him and things don’t work like that.”
Normally during the World Cup, attention is on Germany, Italy, France and may be England but the Italians are not in Russia. I have seen some games from Brazil, they are very good. I tip Brazil to get to the last four. I saw Germany against Austria but I didn’t see the usual German flair. I didn’t see the usual things associated with Germany. The French have renewed their game after the Nicolas Anelka era and crisis. Brazil as host thought the cup was their to take but were taught bitter lesson. Now I see great games coming from these rejuvenated teams. Brazil has the technique, Germany the mentality and England the fighting spirit. Unfortunately the Dutch team (Holland) that has the technique too is not at this World Cup.”
Strikingly, former Super Eagles striker Ayodele Makinwa reckons there is a lot of work to be done in every department of the team if they are to surpass their best finish at the FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Its a fact that Super Eagles have never progressed beyond the second round at any World Cup, the stage they reached in 1994, 1998 and 2014.
But ahead of the Super Eagles sixth appearance at the World Cup in Russia, Gernot Rohr’s men were not too impressive in their performance in the friendlies against Poland and Serbia.
The Super Eagles defeated Poland 1-0 before losing 2-0 to Serbia in their second game.
“Friendly games are meant to try out various players and patterns to know how prepared they are for the World Cup but the players featured showed us so many lapses,” Makinwa, who regularly featured for the Eagles in the mid 2000s, posited.
“The Super Eagles were not impressive but it’s good this is happening now as there’s still a few hours to correct some of the shortcomings.
“But I believe they can improve as they progress in the tournament.
“The defence still looks shaky with some players missing which should not be, likewise the midfield.
“If they don’t improve we will struggle in Russia.”
However Eagles manager Rohr cannot be cowed on the bases of preparation, insisting that his team had the best of preparations any World Cup bound team could have.
Rohr said that his players had a very good preparation in Austria ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the Super Eagles were camped at the Avita Resort in Bad Tatzmanndsdorf, Austria, in a week-long training programme for this year’s World Cup.
While in Austria, the team faced Czech Republic in a friendly which they lost 1-0.
Reflecting on the Super Eagles time at their Austria camp in a short video published on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Twitter account, Rohr said: “Nine days here was hardwork. Everyday we had two training sessions in very good conditions, wonderful grass, the country side is nice, is clean with mountains.
“Unfortunately, we had heavy rain for the match (against Czech Republic). We wanted to play on the seventh or eighth but we played on the sixth. It was too close for the England match so we had small time for recovery and for traveling and the organization could not be made better.
“But we did the work especially after the game against Czech Republic. Everybody is fit, no injury which is the most important and they did very well. And I think everybody is much better now so it was a good preparation,” Rohr said.
All well and good, but as Eagles set out to conquer in Russia, Nigerians are expecting good football while results follow. Eagles and their handlers should realise that they carry the hope, aspirations and image of the country and indeed the continent of Africa on their shoulders and should strive to be a good football ambassadors.
Eagles have been described as underdogs in the tournament, but given Rohr’s optimism and level of preparations, Nigeria will excel.